


Birdsong

by BloodBluePearl



Category: SCP Foundation
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Will tag as I go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:22:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26589565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodBluePearl/pseuds/BloodBluePearl
Summary: My headcanoned backstory for Mikell Bright/O5-6.
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

He ran a hand over the top of his bedside table. It was barren, unpersonalized. He didn’t dare put much of anything on it. Everything he owned- which still wasn’t much- was tucked away and stuffed in drawers. He wasn’t one for neatness, but he knew not to let himself start setting things out. If he put one or two things, he knew he’d start putting more and more until it became a mess. If his room became a mess, he would be yelled at and hit. And that was how he treated his whole room. Well, his for now, at least. He knew in time it wouldn’t just be his any longer. His brother was almost three. They’d had the second bed in his room since his brother was born, and he had no doubt that he’d be moving in with him soon. 

Mikell Bright, at age five, six in a few months, was smart. Not a genius by any means, but smart enough to know just how to please his parents in a way so as to be overlooked, unconsidered. He never drew attention to himself. Even at school, he was a quiet kid- quite a few other students and some teachers thought he was mute. He was generally seen as well-behaved. He tried to be. 

He rarely got in trouble, but when he did, he didn’t fight back. He kept his mouth shut, gaze on the ground. If he got struck down, he stayed down. 

And that caused him to do things that got him in trouble. He’d run away to the nearby forest, just to sit under the trees and watch the birds and laugh in wonder at the singing. Oh, the singing of the forest. The bugs and birds and animals and plants all sang together in harmony. Most don’t pay much attention to it. But Mikell could sit and listen to it for hours on end. He’d sometimes even hum his own part, so he could feel included in the nature of it all. He loved the forest. It felt like his actual home. 

He’d tried actually running away before. For good. He didn’t make it out the door. He didn’t try that again. 

He brushed his hands together to knock off the dust, then wiped them on his pants. He hopped onto his bed, laying down and looking up at the ceiling with his arms above his head. He took a breath. He closed his eyes and wished that the summer would pass just a little faster. 


	2. 16 Years

He kept his eyes on the floor. The van rattled as it went down road after road after road, until Mikell couldn’t tell where he was or where he was going anymore. He’d never been in something like this.

He wished there were windows, there in the back- but he supposed that he was just glad enough to have seats, quite comfortable, too. Well, not uncomfortable. Not exactly the definition of comfortable. Other than the seats, the back was almost completely barren.

“Take the papers from the wall, please.” He looked sharply toward the front. Then around quickly to see what papers they’d been talking about. “Behind your head, sir,” Looking where the person had told him to, he found a small metal folder on the wall with a stack of papers in it. Grabbing them, he looked them over. They were details of his job- which he hadn’t received in the original note. Sure, he had been told the job was dangerous, but that’s all he’d gotten. He was glad now, that he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.

He wasn’t prepared for this. He knew he wasn’t. Yet he accepted the job anyway- he needed some way to pay for food and bills. It’d been a year since he and his siblings had been left by their parents on a ‘business trip’. It was pretty obvious at this point that he needed to find a way to help them all get by. And if this was going to be his best bet, so be it. But, of course, he had to do training first. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to be, but he’d get through it- he was sure of that much.

He looked toward the front of the van. He didn’t like the silence- he knew now that the people up front were allowed to talk to him, but they didn’t. They didn’t even talk among themselves. Mikell knew he sure as heck didn’t want to try starting a conversation- after all, he’d probably start spouting questions once he got a response. He didn’t want to rub them the wrong way. He had to make sure his impression was good. He needed this job. No matter how dangerous it was.

\---

The van had been stopped for what had seemed to be hours. Yet Mikell knew that it had probably only been ten minutes. He looked back up at the folder on the wall, where he’d returned his papers. He wondered if he should read them a second time-   
The back door of the van slammed open. “You can get out, you know that, right?” The woman who had opened the door raised a brow. Mikell felt his face flush, slightly embarrassed.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, quickly getting to his feet and exiting the van swiftly. He looked to be in the middle of nowhere, a field of dead brown grass stretching out in every direction. In front of the van, a brick building- looking fairly new, painted a dark green. The woman started heading toward it, forcing Mikell to stop looking at his surroundings and follow her. Inside the building felt stuffy and cramped- there wasn’t very good air circulation. He hated it, but knew it would be worth enduring in the end. 

The lady he’d been following walked to a door at the left side of the room and stopped right outside of it. “Go in,” She gestured to the door. Mikell reluctantly went through, walking into a hallway. He continued walking further in, going through another door into yet another hallway- but this time, there was a door to his right, marked ‘137’ on a metal plaque on the door. Going in, he was relieved for a second that it wasn’t just another hallway- but then became unnerved once more when he noticed a person sitting in a chair in the officelike setting.

He looked around for a moment, trying to figure out what he was here for- had he already gotten in trouble? 

“Sit down,” The man at the desk ordered. Mikell didn’t need to be told twice, sitting down on the opposite side of the desk. “You know why you’re here, yes?” He nodded with no hesitation. “You know this job is dangerous, then. And you know that you cannot speak of our organization outside of the job and only to people who also work for it, yes?” He nodded again. “Good. Now, once you enter the training room- which will be soon enough- you will get a bag. This will include further details of the job and your uniform. If you do not have a safe hiding place for these, we have a locker system that you can use while you’re in training. You should only be in training for about a year before you are allowed out in the field, but once you start getting assigned to missions, you can still get a personal trainer. Did you get all that?”   
“Yes, sir.” 

The man seemed satisfied with this response, dipping his head for a second. “You may leave now, you will be escorted to the training room.” He wasn’t really ready for how fast things were going- he’d expected it would be a more slow, tedious process to be accepted into this job- but he guessed he might as well just try getting used to this.

Backtracking, he felt exposed. It wasn’t like there was anyone watching him- he just was used to having something on him while he was out and about to protect himself with, and the people who had taken him told him to leave all his weapons in the house.   
As soon as he’d left the room, the lady started walking to the other side, Mikell having to pick up the pace to catch up with her- not that it was that hard, him being strangely tall. 

Through another couple of hallways, they finally arrived at what Mikell would assume to be his destination- the lady who had guided him once again stopping outside of a doorway. He didn’t really want to go in, but he didn’t have much of a choice on something like this. He was already in, there wasn’t really backing out of this now. 

Pushing open the door, he took a breath of the significantly less stuffy air- this place had open windows, thank god- and instantly caught sight of the trainer- it was him and a bunch of other supposed new recruits- and felt like he’d already dug himself into his own grave.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I procrastinated so much on this hhhhhhh

**Author's Note:**

> I have only the vaguest idea of where I'm going with this. Stay tuned! I may be shit at writing but I can apparently hit some people in the feels!


End file.
